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Scott Frost wins Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of Year Award

Nebraska football coach Scott Frost, formerly with Central Florida, poses with the Paul “Bear” Bryant award ahead of the 32nd annual Paul “Bear” Bryant Awards, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018, in Houston. (Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle via AP)
By Joshua Koch Associated Press

HOUSTON – Scott Frost has one final award to share with the University of Central Florida.

The former UCF coach and new Nebraska boss received the Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year Award on Wednesday night.

“It’s an honor. Oobviously, he’s one of the greats,” Frost said about Bryant. “This is a team award. I’m just happy to represent the players and coaches that had such a phenomenal year.”

Frost is first since former Boise State coach Chris Petersen in 2009 with a non-Power 5 program.

This completes the awards season for Frost. In the past few weeks, Frost also claimed the Home Depot Coach of the Year, American Football Coaches Association Coach of the Year, AP Coach of the Year and Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year awards.

UCF rolled past Memphis 62-55 in the American Athletic Conference Championship game, and beat Auburn 34-27 in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl to finish 13-0. UCF finished ranked No. 6 in the final AP Poll of the season, receiving four first place votes.

“If this year taught me anything it’s that with the current structure I don’t think a Group of 5 team has a chance,” Frost said. “(The CFB Playoff Committee) kept us at a comfortable distance from the Top 5 and Top 10 for a long time, even when we were undefeated. Continued move two and three loss teams ahead of us. It’s obvious to me that they don’t have that intention to have that debate. Hopefully that will change.”

When asked about the current state of the College Football Playoff, Frost said he believes it should be expanded to eight teams. This would include the five conference champions and then three at-large bids.

Steve Spurrier was honored with the Bryant Lifetime Achievement Award.

“It’s very nice,” Spurrier said. “I was telling somebody I’m the only coach here that Bear Bryant recruited me out of high school. I visited Alabama way back in 1962. Alabama was playing Miami that day. … It was only 3-3 at halftime and Alabama won 36-3. They clobbered them in the second half.”

Spurrier finished his career as the winningest coach at Florida (122-27-1) and South Carolina (86-49).

“He was really good to all the coaches all over the country,” Spurrier said about Bryant. “A really fun guy to be around.”